Japan says Belarus athlete safe as US, EU condemn Lukashenko

Sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya who refused her team’s orders to return home has been granted a Polish humanitarian visa and will fly to Warsaw on Wednesday.

Japan has said it is keeping a Belarusian Olympian who took refuge in the Polish embassy “safe” as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it had begun a formal investigation into the incident and the United States condemned Belarus’s attempts to send her home against her wishes as intolerable “transnational repression”. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, 24, sought police protection on Sunday during a Tokyo airport standoff to avoid returning to Belarus, where she believes her life would be in danger. The sprinter, who said she was taken to the airport against her will because she had criticised her team’s coaching staff, has now been granted a humanitarian visa by Poland.